Most of the news about what will happen to aerospace and defense (A&D) spending as a result of congressional dallying on resolving its own pre-programmed cuts—sequestration—concerns lost jobs and program slowdowns. But sequestration also is likely to hit the way defense contractors fund independent research and development (IR&D), according to a study by the Fairmont Consulting Group.
The annual presentation of Laureates by Aviation Week recognizes intellect, discovery and heroism, and the organizations and programs that cultivate them in the aerospace and defense sector are honored with the Workforce Laureate. In the running for the Workforce Laureate this year were programs that are designed to attract a workforce to aerospace, as well as the individuals who continue to push this effort despite budget cuts and economic issues.
Contract-tower program supporters are appealing to the FAA to limit the number of airport tower closures set to start April 7 due to across-the-board budget cuts. Senate leadership rejected the efforts of Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) to keep the FAA from closing up to 189 contract towers and restore funding for the program in a short-term spending bill that passed Congress last week.
Each year, in addition to naming Laureates, Aviation Week honors outstanding cadets at U.S. military academies as Tomorrow's Leaders. The awards are sponsored by BAE Systems. This year, four cadets were named and recognized at the Laureates gala by Aviation Week President Greg Hamilton.
The final chapter has apparently opened in the turf war among national security agencies over which should control the most prominent weapon system in use since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Now that Congress has passed a spending bill to keep the government running in fiscal 2013, budget fights over programs such as Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk are about to be renewed. On March 21, the House approved a bill to keep funding the government for the rest of fiscal 2013. It provides a new level of spending for the departments of defense and homeland security as well as NASA; the rest of the federal government will continue to run on fiscal 2012 levels.
Beechcraft is showing little sign of backing down from its fight for the Light Air Support (LAS) contract, filing suit in the Court of Federal Claims to object to the U.S. Air Force’s decision to move ahead with work on the program during a Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of the LAS contract award.
All U.S. Air Force flight testing at Edwards AFB, Calif., other than the continuing evaluation of the F-35, will stop by September as a result of cost cuts associated with sequestration, warns Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger, commander of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC).
Thanks to their long-term contracting nature, most of the aircraft carrier building and overhaul projects remain mostly protected from the severe impacts of sequestration, but continuing resolutions the Pentagon has been saddled with so far in fiscal 2013 have held up carrier work at the most inopportune time, a shipbuilding executive says.
NUKE BAN: Getting the strongly divided U.S. Senate to ratify the long-standing Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty “remains a top priority” for the Obama administration, according to a key State Department official, but it is not seen as imminent. “There are no set time frames to bring the treaty to a vote, and we are going to be patient, but we will also be persistent,” says Rose Gottemoeller, acting undersecretary for arms control and international security.
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Despite having already set up one of the aerospace industry’s most advanced production systems for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Lockheed Martin is appealing for industry help as it looks for more improvements in anticipation of assembling up to 20 aircraft per month by 2017. “We need help with measuring gaps and mismatches on the aircraft. There are complicated joints, 10,000 points and 1,100 seams. Have you got any good ideas? We’ve got to do it fast and accurately,” says F-35 Fighter Production System Deputy Don Kinard.
Though last week’s White House decision to restructure the SM-3 Block IIB interceptor program shuts the door on Lockheed Martin’s aspirations to get into the large interceptor market, company officials are hopeful that new kill vehicle work may be on the horizon.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden defended his agency against allegations it allowed Chinese espionage in testimony before House lawmakers March 20, saying there has been no attempt at NASA to get around the requirements of laws restricting bilateral research arrangements with China.
While the U.S. has been focused on the actual and potential changes in its aircraft carrier and amphibious fleets wrought by continuing resolutions (CRs) and sequestration, the Navy’s destroyer plans also are at risk. The Navy will probably be unable to buy and build the number of planned DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, which anchor the nation’s ballistic missile defense (BMD) plans, due to the ongoing CR and sequestration, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). Just how U.S. BMD plans will be affected later is unclear.
Heavy-lift helicopter specialist Erickson Air-Crane is acquiring operators in the U.S. and Brazil in a move to diversify from its niche in firefighting into a global aviation services business. The acquisition of Oregon-based Evergreen Helicopter (EHI) and Air Amazonia of Brazil for up to $350 million will double Erickson’s revenues and operating earnings. The deals will also take the Portland, Ore.-based company into new commercial and government markets, halving its dependence on seasonal firefighting revenues.
THE PENTAGON — The first-of-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1), the USS Freedom, briefly lost and then regained power March 16 while en route to its first Asian deployment to Singapore, confirms Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, the director of Navy staff and the head of the special LCS Council of service admirals.
SEQUESTRATION SCARE: Across-the-board budget cuts directed by sequestration could cause an increase in the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S., the commander of U.S. Southern Command told the House Armed Services Committee March 20. Last year, the U.S. and other countries helped confiscate 200 metric tons of cocaine before it arrived from South America and Central America on its way north, said Marine Gen. John Kelly. The effort cost the U.S. about $600 million.
The Senate has passed a bill to keep the government running once the current stopgap spending bill expires on March 27. The bill, passed by a vote of 73-26, will fund NASA and the Pentagon at fiscal 2013 levels. That eases the military’s concerns about the effects on force readiness if it were to be funded at 2012 levels for all of fiscal 2013, but does not address $85 billion in across-the-board budget cuts imposed by sequestration.
Recent high-profile Yemeni Air Force (YAF) crashes serve as a grim reminder to U.S. officials of how much work remains in preparing Yemen’s air force to pull its own weight in the ongoing battle against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is being carried out largely from the skies via UAV attacks.
